Corry thriller snapped up for TV series adaptation

Jane Corry’s My Husband’s Wife (Penguin) has been optioned as a TV series by the makers of “Baby Driver".

Big Talk Productions and Mr Mudd have teamed to option the book by the Blood Sisters author. The partners plan to adapt the domestic thriller as a TV series. The companies acquired TV rights from Rebecca Watson at Valerie Hoskins Associates Ltd on behalf of Kate Hordern of KHLA.

British film and TV production company Big Talk had a big hit with last year’s Edgar Wright-helmed "Baby Driver" and has TV credits including “Mum", "Cold Feet" and “Rev". Mr Mudd is a film production company based in Los Angeles run by producers Russell Smith and Lianne Halfon and actor John Malkovich. It has been producing indie features for 20 years including "Ghost World", “Juno" and "The Perks Of Being A Wallflower".

The novel is described as "a female driven story about love, marriage and murder in an ever evolving East London". The plot unfolds over two decades and charts the lives of Lily, a 25-year-old London lawyer, and Carla, her immigrant neighbor’s young daughter who lives in a flat across the hall. The two women form a close bond which will irrevocably change their lives forever.

Big Talk exec producer Luke Alkin calls My Husband’s Wife “an emotionally rich and psychologically satisfying novel. "We’re delighted to be developing it for the screen with our wonderful partners at Mr Mudd,” he said.

Halfon and Smith said: “Jane Corry has written a thriller with a complex heroine who is also eminently relatable. My Husband’s Wife is a great contemporary tale in the hands of terrific storytellers.”

Katy Loftus, editorial director at Penguin, says, “Lily and Carla have peopled my imagination since I first met them, and I can’t wait to see these two incredible and complex women brought to life. The dangerous world of prison and courtroom that Jane writes about so compellingly is perfect for the screen, and who better to do that than Big Talk and Mr Mudd.”

Corry, a former magazine journalist who lives in Devon, described it as “a dream come true for me”. 

"I am utterly thrilled that Big Talk and Mr Mudd have proposed to (and been accepted by) My Husband’s Wife. I can’t wait to see it on screen. I am also extremely grateful to everyone who helped to make this happen," she commented.

Corry’s latest novel, domestic psychological thriller The Dead Ex, was published in late June by Penguin.